£0 
diforders are feldom prefent in this ifland; 
during the {pring, however, bilious remit- 
tent fevers prevail, which are fometimes 
attended wita fymptoms of inflammation. 
Cf all the feafons, turmmer in this climate 
3s the meft healrhy ; but at the beginning 
ef autumn, and dung part of winter, 
fevers of a putrid and malignant type are 
prevalent, which carry off the patient in 
two or three days, if fpeedy relief be net 
afforded. Centinved remittent and inter- 
raittent fevers, of a very bad kind, which 
are fometimes compiicated with diarrhoeas 
and dy‘enteries, frequently prevail at the 
fame time, and which appear to be import- 
ed fron the country, and particularly from 
the diftriSt comiguous~te the great port 
termed La Marie. PuathiGcal, and fill 
more e!pecially hemorrhoidal affeetions are 
very common at Malta; whillt, on the 
¢ontrary, gout, itch, fivea capitis, goitres, 
and ferophuia, feldom occur. 
Weavers, !pinners cf cotton, &e. who 
¢arry cp their employments in damp con- 
fined apartments, are frequently afflicted 
with rheumatic complaints ; and I have 
even fometimes feen the French foldiers 
deprived of the ule cf their limbs from be- 
ing expofed to fimilar caufes after long 
marches. 
Lues vexerea is extremely common, and 
net unfrequently complicated with other 
diforders : as for the (mall-pox, feveral years 
will fometimes elapfe between their appes:- 
ance in this ifland, but when once imported 
they prove very defirnélive; and at Malta 
difeafes run throvgh their different ftages 
with aftonifhing rapidity. The periodi- 
eal moverments which take place in a dif 
ealfed ftate of the human body are much 
more obyicus mm thisifland than in France, 
and the ufual erifes are by fweat and 
urine. 
The bile, which predominates in almoft 
every malady, requiresto be fpeedily eva- 
cuated ; hence it is that the cure is gene- 
rally begun by the adminiftration of an 
emetic, for which purpofle ipecacuasha is 
molly emploved. As the fyftem is al- 
mcf always rendered very irritable by the 
long continued cfieéts of heat, the Maltefe 
phyficians feldom employ any cathartics 
but thofe bf the mildeft kind, fuch as oil 
of {weet almonds, and fimilar aperients.— 
The remédy held in the bighett efimation 
among them, and which I myfeif have 
frequently employed with the greateft fuc- 
cis, is iced-water. Bleeding and biifter- 
ing are rarely praétifed ; whillt, on the 
contrary, the ufe of the cautery is very 
common, by which praétice the moft bene- 
ficial effcSis are frequently produced. As 
Dafeription of the Ifland and City of Malta. 
[ Feb. Ty 
in this climate difea/es readily affume a 
putrid character, aitended with delirium, 
it rnuft be obvious that the moft vigilant 
attention will be neceffary in their treat-. 
ment, mere efpecially to ventilatien and 
cleaniinefs. In acute ma/adies wine is not 
only prohibited, but the itriteft antiphlo. 
gitic regimen enjoined ; demulcents coh- 
ftitute the bafis of the treatment. It is 
with fatista€tion that I am enabled, from 
my -own exserience, to bear honourable 
teftimony to the fkill and fagacity of the 
Maltefe phyficians, having adopted, with 
complete fuccefs, the mode of treatment 
employed by them in cifferent difeafes dur- 
ing the time I remained in the ifland.— 
Temperance is the beft prefervative 
again the maladies of which I have 
fyoken: ‘ Waletudo fuftentatur netitia 
{ul corporis et ob/ervatione qu res aut 
predcfle teieant aut obeff-, et continentia 
in viétu omni atque cultu corports, tuendi 
caula, et pretermittendis vcluptatibus,” 
Thefe rales are ftiil more effential to ftran- 
gers than the naiives, who, efpecially on 
firft landing upon the ifland, fhould be 
cautious to avoid expolure to the damp 
air of the night: they ought alioto relin- 
quifh the ufe of fpirituous liquors, live 
ciefy on vegetables, and eat only a very 
{mall portion of animal food. That paf- 
fien, to the indulgence cf whieh the licen- 
tiouf{nefs of the Maitefe females offers fo 
many temptations, muit likewife be refift- 
ed as highly injurious. The employment 
of freth or falt-water baths, and the libe- 
ral ufe of iced-water, is afalutary praétice 
that fhould never be omitied ; and in or- 
der to avoid the influence of the’ firocco, 
recourfe muft be had to thofe means of 
which experience has taught the utility to 
the natives themfelves. By an attention 
to theie circumitances, difeafes may in ge- - 
neral be avoided, and life protra&ed to the 
Jaceft period. Whiuilft, by a ftriét adhe- 
rence tothe rules of temperance, thehealth 
of armies is preferved in warm countries, 
intemperance deftroys more lives than 
either fire or fword; a Mriking illuftration 
of which is furnifbed by the French, dur- 
ing the blockade of this ifland, who, not- 
withftanding the hardfhips they under- 
went during the year 8, remained perfeat- 
ly healthy, whilit the befiegers, amongtt 
an equal number of troops, who were fup-= 
plicd with every neceflary, had three hun- 
dred and filty patienis on entering the city 
after our capitulation. 
To render a city falubrious, faid Hip. 
pocratés, it fhould have a north-ealt ex- 
pofure, and not be too much crowded 
with inhabitants; if fhould, befides, be 
well 
